Infographics
Infographics (also called invisual display of information but also of knowledge - how to do things. He created graphics for Time magazine for 16 years, and is the author of several books on the subject. Close and strongly related to the field of information graphics, is information design. Actually, making infographics is a certain discipline within the information design world. Modern day American information designers, like Nigel Holmes, Edward Tufte, Peter Sullivan and Sam Ward, Donald Norman; are accompanied by a very active Dutch information designer: Paul Mijksenaar. His Amsterdam and New York based design studio is specialized in the development of visual oriented information systems. They create so called wayfinding and waysigning systems for all kinds of large public transport systems and infrastructures. Examples of their work are, the signing systems for airports in the Netherlands (Schiphol, Amsterdam), but also for airports in Italy and the United States like: JFK and Dallas Fort Worth. Types of information graphic * chart * flowchart * histogram * graph * map * diagram * concept map * contour map * isotherm, isobar * mind map * signage systems Interpreting information graphics Many information graphics are specialised forms of depiction that represent their content in sophisticated and often abstract ways. In order to interpret the meaning of these graphics appropriately, the viewer requires a suitable level of graphicacy. In many cases, the required graphicacy involves comprehension skills that are learned rather than innate. At a fundamental level, the skills of decoding individual graphic signs and symbols must be acquired before sense can be made of an information graphic as a whole. However, knowledge of the conventions for distributing and arranging these individual components is also necessary for the building of understanding. References and further reading * Blood, Dirt, and Nomograms: A Particular History of Graphs, Thomas L. Hankins, University of Chicago Press (1999, 90: 50-80). * Designing Infographics (1998), Eric K. Meyer, ISBN 1-56830-339-4 * The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983), Edward Tufte, ISBN 0-9613921-0-X * Envisioning Information (1990), Edward Tufte, ISBN 0-9613921-1-8 * Visual Explanations (1997), Edward Tufte, ISBN 0-9613921-2-6 * Beautiful Evidence (2006), Edward Tufte, ISBN 0-9613921-7-7 * Billion Dollar Graphics, Michael Parkinson, ISBN 978-1-4243-1668-7 and ISBN 978-1-4243-1665-6 External links Online collections of infographics * information aesthetics - weblog * NiXLOG - weblog * Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics and Data Visualization - history site Infographics awards * NSF Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge - Yearly award with an information graphics category. * http://www.snd.org - Society for Newsdesign, holds an annual competition for newsdesign. categories are for example: infographics, pagesdesign, illustration and photography Sources and more information ;Books: *"Designing Infographics," by Eric K. Meyer *Book reviews, by Emil J. Posavac, psychology professor at Loyola University Chicago, Aug. 6, 2002 ;Web sites: *Edward Tufte's site *Visual Journalism, An Eye on Graphics in the News, includes a gallery, articles and discussion ;Tip sheets: *Graphics Opportunities: When to Say No and When to Say Yes, by Warren Watson, American Press Institute *Tips for Preventing Errors in Graphics, compiled from a discussion among participants in the 2002 Knight Summer institute for Midcareer Copy Editors ;Miscellaneous *Swivel *Wikipedia category Credit and categories Category:Jobs Category:I Category:Visual journalism Category:I